In the case of massive tapped user data on Facebook, the Higher Regional Court of Hamm made a first leading decision.
The judges certified that Facebook violated data protection regulations, for which the parent company Meta Platforms must be liable – but the complaining user went away empty-handed. She has hers
The court announced on Wednesday that the damage suffered could not be demonstrated. There are many almost identical lawsuits throughout Germany. For the first time, a higher regional court has dealt with the issue in what is probably the last instance.
Years ago, unknown persons had exploited a friend search function on the social network and thus tapped data from around 500 million users – including names and telephone numbers. The telephone numbers stored on Facebook were actually not openly visible, but could be accessed on a large scale via automated requests – so-called scraping. Facebook then switched off the function.
In 2019 and again in 2021, the tapped data appeared on the internet. When personal information like email addresses and phone numbers are shared, people are more likely to fall for fake emails because they can be made more authentic.
Those affected by the data theft are now suing en masse against Meta in courts throughout Germany – with almost identical lawsuits and claims for 1,000 euros in damages. The reason given is that one has “feelings of a loss of control, of being observed and of helplessness,” said the court.
That was not enough for the judges in Hamm. In order to make “immaterial damage” credible, a “personal or psychological impairment must have occurred”. In what the court calls a “leading decision,” they dismissed the user’s lawsuit.
The judges were convinced that Facebook actually violated data protection regulations. Among other things, the network should not have used the phone numbers of the users for the search function without their express consent. Overall, Facebook used an illegal and non-transparent process at the time to obtain users’ consent to the use of their data. When the data theft became known, Meta also “did not take obvious measures to prevent further unauthorized data access” despite concrete knowledge, the judges criticized.
The verdict is not yet legally binding. However, the court did not allow an appeal. On the other hand, the lawyers of the complaining user could lodge a complaint – but because of the low value in dispute there would be high hurdles for this, said a court spokesman.
Meta shares are temporarily down 0.46 percent at $297.78 in pre-market NASDAQ trading.
HAMM (dpa-AFX)
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